Energy consumption has become increasingly important in today's society. As battery technology improves and as the cost of gas increases, an increased focus is being given to electric vehicles. Electric vehicles can reduce transportation costs, our dependency on foreign oil, green house gasses (GHG), and even global warming. For utility companies, electric vehicles present both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity lies in utilizing car batteries as a distributed storage for storing energy during times of low consumption. This distributed storage can also be used to smooth out the generation of intermittent renewable energies (e.g., wind and solar energy). The challenge lies in successfully coordinating these activities in an inexpensive manner. Thus, the ability to properly manage energy resources provides a significant challenge to automotive designers, component manufacturers, service providers, and system administrators alike.